The prior art is aware of many different configurations of vises which are reasonably accurate and sturdy for holding workpieces which can be worked upon by machining or the like, for instance. Examples of such prior art are seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 152,350; 3,170,708; 2,450,303; 2,880,638; 4,613,120; and 5,172,895. Those and other prior art disclosures differ from the present invention wherein there is an exceptionally accurate and sturdy vise for supporting workpieces, particularly workpieces involved in extraordinarily accurate industrial machining or the like.
The vise of the present invention does not utilize nor rely upon threaded members for retaining the vise in its assembled condition. Therefore, the accuracy of the vise is enhanced over that of the prior art. Further, the strength or sturdiness of the vise is improved in that threaded members are not utilized for countering the clamping force of the vise, and the clamping force is applied centrally relative to the location of the workpiece itself so that there is no offset location of the clamping force on the workpiece. Thus, the vise of this invention can be utilized with either manual cranking or powering or a power cylinder or the like, in the clamping action.
Additionally, this vise is arranged so that it can be accurately positioned in either one of two positions, that is, either on what is termed a bottom edge of the vise or on a side edge of the vise, with the edges resting on a worktable.
Still further, the V-blocks utilized in this vise can be readily interchanged for selective sizing, and the V-blocks are positioned on the inner section of the axis with the force applicator or screw which moves the clamping jaws into clamping position. In that arrangement, the clamping force is applied within the boundary defined by the tension members which are retaining the vise in its assembled position, and thus maximum clamping force can be applied within the extreme strength of the vise when arranged as described herein.
Additionally, this vise is arranged so that the moving jaw of the two clamping jaws for the workpiece is accurately and slidably supported on the tension members which are holding the vise in the assembled position. Therefore, the moving jaw is accurately guided with virtually no play tolerance, and the jaw receives support from the tension members mentioned .